After assigning the project I posted last week, I am both
pleased and frustrated with the student work I have received. Many students are
on task, making a thesis statement and providing cited evidence to support
their stance. However, there are many problems, not with content, but with
essay structure, proper English writing, and overall coherence.
In hindsight, it definitely would have been helpful to
provide a word bank with specific terminology for the project, but which words?
Some of my students are having trouble with the understanding and use of
science specific content words, others with prepositions, sentence starters,
basic spelling, punctuation, and grammatical terminology or “time and place
words”. Not being an English teacher, I’m not entirely sure how to teach these
concepts, nor do I have the time to sacrifice content teaching time to go over
the basics of how to write full five to seven paragraph essays.
While grading these papers, I am told to grade for content,
not for grammar. I feel like I am not preparing the students for the next
grade, or for college, by accepting a paper that in the least, is not
grammatically correct and free of spelling errors. Why are students not able to
spell by the 11th or 12th grade when they are native New
Yorkers? Why have teachers not corrected their writing in elementary school? In
middle school? During freshman or sophomore year? We can’t play catch up in
junior and senior year. Its not fair to the teachers, the school, and
especially, to the students.
I'm glad you followed up with this assignment. I think a couple of things may help. First, you definitely should work on content area words. Meaning, words related to this assignment. I would do this WITH the class as a way to review this information. Ask them what words relate to this topic/paper, then generate a list together on the board. Then, have students write down whichever words they feel may be a 'touchstone' in their paper.
ReplyDeleteAs far as non-content-related writing issues, how about providing some transition phrases or words. These can be VERY helpful in creating a logical paper. Words like: Likewise, Comparatively, In contrast, Firstly, Secondly, etc.
I would definitely also provide a sample and go through it with the class. Sometimes just seeing how the project looks on the other hand can be extremely helpful to learners.